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GMC Forum _ REC _ Neoclassical Solo For Beginners

Posted by: MountainThistle Jun 6 2015, 05:27 AM

Original lesson: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/neoclassical_solo_for_beginners/

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Jun 6 2015, 06:09 PM

Hi mate! Great to find your take at REC!

I can hear new improvements compared with the last take you shared at the mentoring program thread. But here we usually see the glass half empty, haha, so here I go:

- Vibrato: This technique is evolving but you need to continue polishing it. It's good to make it wide, but you must be careful with pith since there are some moments where the pitch of the note is a bit off. Another thing to have in mind is the "groove" or "rhythm" of your band, that should go more natural with the backing, and also the width, that should grow more gradually. Just details to have in mind. Practicing over the original lesson can help.

- Dynamics: You are playing all the notes with the same intensity. Check how Emir accentuates some notes of the phrases to make the take more expressive.

For the curious, we are working with MountainThistle on this and some other lessons at this thread: http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?showtopic=52857

Keep on the great job!

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 8 2015, 12:31 PM

Hi MountainThistle, I have checked out your take and here are my impressions. The most obvious detail that I'm noticing in your playing is that you are making small pauses in between two notes. This would be called staccato playing. I've made a bass lesson on this topic but the same technique and approach applies to guitar, check it out http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/ls/Bass_First_Steps_Legato_and_Staccato/. What you are doing is making a small pause then you are about to play and fret the next note. You lose the pressure applied to the fret of the previous note which kills the sustain of it, before you play the next note. Instead, you should keep the pressure on the vibrating string and note until you play the next one. The goal is to have a really smooth transition from one note to another. This will add a lot of fluidity to your playing and at this point based on this video, this is what you need the most to take your playing to the next step.

Back to the take on this lesson, my advice would be to concentrate on:

- Playing fluidly in a "legato" (connected) kind of way by focusing on smooth transitions from one note to the next one (compare section at 0:00-0:12 with the original instructor performance)

- Keeping the ending notes sustained longer to match the lesson (this is related to the above point, you just slightly cut those long notes short instead of flowing them directly to the next section/licks)

- Timing: there is a tendency to rush and play in front of the beat. Compare for example the section at at 0:22-0:32 ....with the instructor take. Notice how he plays slightly behind the beat (after the drums hit the kick drum or cymbals, just a bit "late"). This puts him in the pocket which sounds great for a laid back solo like this one.

- Last details: vibrato and bending. Ok, I know these two techniques are hard to master and take a lot of time so I'll just suggest concentrating on vibrato type used in this lesson (and trying to match its width and speed) as well as being precise with string bending in order to hit the correct pitch. Tone wise, you did a good job matching the character of Emir's tone in the lesson. Here I would suggest, lowering a bit of treble and maybe increasing mid frequencies to get some warmth in the sound. Also, the amp/patch you are using lacks in dynamics it seems (maybe there is some kind of compressor added to the signal chain? If so, turn it off.). You need dynamics to be able to play some notes louder and some softer and more quiet in order to make the solo sound more expressive.

Overall - this lesson features quite a few difficult details to work on and I'm glad you've chose to work on it as it will expose and then help you get over hurdles in your technique which in the end results in - progress! You'll see that it is well worth it nailing this lesson perfect. Please PM me or post in my instructor board if you need any more details and help with mastering this lesson.

Posted by: Darius Wave Jun 8 2015, 07:02 PM

To avoid repeating after guys above...

More strength from picking hand. That's what You need to get that wanted, mean tone for neoclassical playing. Type of distortion used in this take uncovers that the problem is in the picking hand. Very often we have to pick way above level we would use on a clean tone. Distortion lives it's own life. If You want to get that sharp, neoclassical sound, you need to take a close look at picking strength. Your tone has a nice countour - good match to the backing track but it sounds a bit flat. I would consider to leave that preset and keep working on what's mentioned above

Posted by: Fran Jun 9 2015, 06:51 PM

Almost there, 7